Budget 2014: Madrasas Get 100-Crore Upgrade

The Modi government's first budget earmarked a higher allocation of Rs 3,734.01 crore for the ministry of minority affairs while announcing schemes for skill upgrade of minorities and Rs 100 crore for modernization of madrasas.

NEW DELHI: The Modi government's first budget earmarked a higher allocation of Rs 3,734.01 crore for the ministry of minority affairs while announcing schemes for skill upgrade of minorities and Rs 100 crore for modernization of madrasas.

The outlay for 2014-15 fiscal is 5.75% higher than the Rs 3,530.98 crore announced by the UPA government in the last budget. The revised budget for the ministry in 2013-14 was Rs 3,111 crore.

The focus of the BJP government is on upgrade of skills and imparting training in ancestral arts for development of minorities.

A scheme, 'Upgradation of Traditional Skills in Arts, Resources and Goods' will be launched to preserve traditional arts and craft. Assuring the minorities, the President's address to Parliament had said the new government was committed to making all minorities equal partners in India's progress.

BJP had promised equal opportunities for minorities in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections and said it "would ensure a peaceful and secure environment where there is no place for either the perpetrators or exploiters of fear".

The BJP manifesto said it was committed to preservation of the rich culture and heritage of India's minority communities, alongside their social and economic empowerment.

For the fist time, a rehabilitation fund was announced for Hindus driven out of Muslim-majority Kashmir after the start of an anti-India insurgency in 1989 with an allocation of Rs 200 crore.